Renting out a vacation property to others can be profitable. If you do this, you must normally report the rental income on your tax return. You may not have to report the rent, however, if the rental period is short and you also use the property as your home. Here are some tips that you should know:

Vacation Home. A vacation home can be a house, apartment, condominium, mobile home, boat or similar property.

Schedule E. You usually report rental income and rental expenses on Schedule E, Supplemental Income and Loss. Your rental income may also be subject to Net Investment Income Tax.

Used as a Home. If the property is “used as a home,” your rental expense deduction is limited. This means your deduction for rental expenses can’t be more than the rent you received. For more about these rules, see Publication 527, Residential Rental Property (Including Rental of Vacation Homes).

Divide Expenses. If you personally use your property and also rent it to others, special rules apply. You must divide your expenses between rental use and personal use. To figure how to divide your costs, you must compare the number of days for each type of use with the total days of use.

Personal Use. Personal use may include use by your family. It may also include use by any other property owners or their family. Use by anyone who pays less than a fair rental price is also considered personal use.

Schedule A. Report deductible expenses for personal use on Schedule A, Itemized Deductions. These may include costs such as mortgage interest, property taxes and casualty losses.

Rented Less than 15 Days. If the property is “used as a home” and you rent it out fewer than 15 days per year, you do not have to report the rental income. In this case you deduct your qualified expenses on Schedule A.

EzPaycheck 2016 payroll software speeds up and simplifies payroll tax calculation, paycheck printing and tax reporting for small businesses. However if you like to calculate the taxes manually, you can find the step by step guide below

Karen is married, with 1 allowance. Her salary rate is $39000. She gets one pay check each month.

EzPaycheck payroll software is designed to automate paycheck processes to reduce the time spent on running payroll. The software’s graphic interface leads users step-by-step through setting up employee information, importing data, calculating payroll—including calculation of federal, state and local taxes; deductions for Medicare, insurance and 401(k) plans; and printing paychecks.

Priced at just $89 per installation, ezPaycheck’s graphical interface and functions are so intuitive that even users without much computer or accounting experience can start automating payroll processes within minutes of installation. Additionally, customers can try ezPaycheck payroll software without cost or obligation for 30 days.

EzPaycheck 2015 payroll software speeds up and simplifies payroll tax calculation, paycheck printing and tax reporting for small businesses. However if you like to calculate the taxes manually, you can find the step by step guide below

Karen is the employee of company ABC. She lives in Arizona. Her withholding rate is single/withhold at a single rate. She has two allowances and no extra withholds. She gets paid $10 per hour biweekly. She works 64 hours for each biweekly pay period.

Followings are the steps to calculate the federal tax:

1. Gross pay for each paycheck: For each pay period, the gross pay is $640

2. Deduction for each paycheck:The standard deduction is $4,000 per year (For Year 2015).She can get total $4000*2=$8000For each pay period the deduction is: $8000/26=$307.69

3. Taxable income for each paycheckSo for each paycheck, the taxable income is: 640-307.69=$332.31

EzPaycheck payroll softwareis designed to automate paycheck processes to reduce the time spent on running payroll. The software’s graphic interface leads users step-by-step through setting up employee information, importing data, calculating payroll—including calculation of federal, state and local taxes; deductions for Medicare, insurance and 401(k) plans; and printing paychecks.

Priced at just $89 per installation, ezPaycheck’s graphical interface and functions are so intuitive that even users without much computer or accounting experience can start automating payroll processes within minutes of installation. Additionally, customers can try ezPaycheck payroll software without cost or obligation for 30 days.

The CA ETT (Employment Training Tax) is an employer-paid tax. Employers subject to ETT pay one-tenth of 0.1 percent (.001) on the first $7,000 in wages paid to each employee in a calendar year. The tax rate is set by statute at 0.1 percent (.001) of UI taxable wages for the employers with positive UI reserve account balances and employers subject to Section 977(c) of the CUIC. The maximum tax is $7 per employee, per year ($7,000 x .001).

Since it is employer side tax, ezPaycheck payroll software will not withhold it from employee paychecks. And employees will not see the ETT on their paystubs.

EzPaycheck small business payroll software saves employers' time by simplifying payroll tax calculation, paycheck printing and tax reporting. However if you like to calculate the taxes manually, you can find the step by step guide below

For example:

Karen is the employee of company ABC. She lives in Arizona. Her withholding rate is single/withhold at a single rate. She has two allowances and no extra withholds. She gets paid $10 per hour biweekly. She works 64 hours for each biweekly pay period.

Followings are the steps to calculate the federal tax:

1. Gross pay for each paycheck: For each pay period, the gross pay is $640

2. Deduction for each paycheck:The standard deduction is $3,950 per year (For Year 2014).She can get total $3950*2=$7900For each pay period the deduction is: $7900/26=$303.85

3. Taxable income for each paycheckSo for each paycheck, the taxable income is: 640-303.85=$336.15

EzPaycheck payroll softwareis designed to automate paycheck processes to reduce the time spent on running payroll. The software’s graphic interface leads users step-by-step through setting up employee information, importing data, calculating payroll—including calculation of federal, state and local taxes; deductions for Medicare, insurance and 401(k) plans; and printing paychecks.

Priced at just $89 per installation, ezPaycheck’s graphical interface and functions are so intuitive that even users without much computer or accounting experience can start automating payroll processes within minutes of installation. Additionally, customers can try ezPaycheck payroll software without cost or obligation for 30 days.

Married same-sex couples will be treated the same as opposite-sex couples for tax purposes, the Obama administration announced on Sep 29, regardless of where they live now.

The Treasury Department, following up on the Supreme Court's ruling in June striking down a key section of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, announced that gay and lesbian married couples can file joint federal tax returns

A little more than 43% of U.S. households -- or 70 million homes - will end up owing no federal income taxes for 2013. CNNMoney reports, citing a new report from the Tax Policy Center.

The households with zero income tax liability are not evenly distributed across income groups. The majority this year -- nearly 67% -- have incomes below $30,000.

"Many people who pay no income tax simply have too little income to owe tax. The rest benefit from the tax code's many preferences -- exclusions, deductions, exemptions, and credits -- that zero out the tax they would otherwise pay," said Roberton Williams of the Tax Policy Center.

After President Barack Obama signed the tax rate changes into law, IRS released the new updated income-tax withholding tables for 2013 on Jan 3. The revised withholding tables show the new rates in effect for 2013 and supersede the tables published on Dec 31, 2012.

2013 withholding tables. This notice includes the 2013 Percentage Method Tables for Income Tax Withholding. Employers should implement the 2013 withholding tables as soon as possible, but not later than February 15, 2013. Use the 2012 withholding tables until you implement the 2013 withholding tables.

Social security tax. For 2013, the employee tax rate for social security increases to 6.2%.The social security wage base limit increases to $113,700.

Employers should implement the 6.2% employee social security tax rate as soon as possible, but not later than February 15, 2013. After implementing the new 6.2% rate, employers should make an adjustment in a subsequent pay period to correct any underwithholding of social security tax as soon as possible, but not later than March 31, 2013.

Medicare TaxThe Medicare tax rate is 1.45% each for the employee and employer, unchanged from 2012. There is no wage base limit for Medicare tax.

Additional Medicare Tax WithholdingIn addition to withholding Medicare tax at 1.45%, you must withhold a 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax from wages you pay to an employee in excess of $200,000 in a calendar year. You are required to begin withholding Additional Medicare Tax in the pay period in which you pay wages in excess of $200,000 to an employee and continue to withhold it each pay period until the end of the calendar year. Additional Medicare Tax is only imposed on the employee. There is no employer share of Additional Medicare Tax. All wages that are subject to Medicare tax are subject to Additional Medicare Tax withholding if paid in excess of the $200,000 withholding threshold.

The nation's only statewide tax vote on the November ballot asks Colorado voters whether they want to temporarily raise taxes to generate $3 billion for classrooms and colleges — a proposal that has stirred fierce opposition because of the stagnant economy.

The vote could serve as a test of voters' mood on tax increases and their frustration after endless rounds of education cuts in Colorado.

The measure would raise individual and corporate tax rates from 4.63 percent to 5 percent and Colorado's sales and use tax rate from 2.9 percent to 3 percent. The rates would be in effect from 2012 through 2016, with an estimated $2.9 billion in new revenue during that time going to K-12 schools and public colleges.

Do you know nearly half of tax filers do not pay federal tax? According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center in Washington, D.C., 46% of tax filers will owe no federal income tax this year.

Most of them are the lowest-income Americans. However those making $75,000-$100,000 a year are the fastest-growing share of people who don't pay federal income taxes. Tax Cuts and tax breaks are the main reasons for the change.

FICA stands for the Federal Insurance Contributions Act.FICA taxes are comprised of two separate taxes, social security and Medicare taxes, that are paid on wages earned for services performed.Employers withhold and pay their employees’ share of the FICA taxes and also pay the employer share.

For Year 2011, the maximum taxable earnings amount for Social Security is $106,800. The Social Security tax (OASDI) rate for wages paid in 2011 is 4.2 percent for employees and 6.2 percent for employers.

The Social Security Administration has released the proposed figures for the increase in the wage base for taxation for 2012 and projected some figures for the years up to 2015.

The Social Security wage base, now at $106,800, is projected to increase to $110,700 in 2012, according to the annual report of the Social Security Board of Trustees. Also – in 2012, the temporary 2% reduction in the Social Security withholding tax will expire.

This will increase the social security tax paid by high wage earners from $4,485.60 (in Year 2011) to $6,863 (in Year 2012).

Future wage bases have been projected for the years up to 2015 as well: for 2013, the base is projected at $113,100; for 2014, $117,600; and for 2015, $122,700.

While the Republicans talk about the "shared sacrifices" necessary to close our government's budget deficit, their plan imposes pain mostly on the sick, the elderly, and the poor. Asking the rich to sacrifice by paying higher tax rates surely pales in comparison. I believe that having wealthy investors pay taxes at the same rate as middle-class workers would be an important step towards making sure that we all contribute to putting our fiscal house in order.